Stories you probably you never heard of because the victims were mexican
The Bishops Bloods gang is known for running the 52nd Street corridor on the Eastside of South L.A.
Most of the set's beefs seem to involve other African American gangs that dwell in the LAPD's rough Newton Division, but for some reason a Blood named Baby Uzi opened fire on at least two Latinos who weren't banging, killing them both.
The U.S. Attorney's Office this week announced that ...
... Baby Uzi, a.k.a. 22-year-old Marquis Edwards, has pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges stemming from the two murders in 2006 and 2007. (He wasn't even 18 at the time of the attacks).
Here's the feds' rundown of Edwards' crimes in and around the Pueblo Del Rio housing projects at 52nd and Alameda streets:
Edwards admitted that he and other Pueblo Bishops gang members participated in a September 4, 2006 ambush attack on a group of young people. Edwards jumped out of one of the vehicles involved in the attack, chased the victims and shot 15-year-old Jose Maldonado at close range. Maldonado - a high school honors student who was not affiliated with any gang - bled to death on his own driveway. Two other Latino youths with Maldonado were also shot and injured during the shooting.
On the night Maldonado was killed, Edwards and another gang member returned to the site of the murder, where family members had gathered for a vigil and to clean up Maldonado's blood. The other gang member shot into the vigil crowd, injuring one.
Edwards also admitted to participating in a March 18, 2007 attack in which a 35-year-old single mother was fatally shot. Edwards and other Pueblo Bishop Bloods gang members in a convoy surrounded a van driven by Laura Sanchez, who yelled at her 18-year-old son to get down, which likely saved his life. Sanchez was struck by multiple bullets and died that night. Her son was able to escape the car and survive. Neither Sanchez nor her son had any known gang ties.
Following longstanding FBI and LAPD investigations of the gang, Edwards was indicted May 25 of last year.
The gang was also hit with a RICO indictment.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Edwards is the forth Bishops Bloods member to plead guilty in connection with the above killings. Additionally, 33 of the gang's members have been convicted under the federal crackdown.
When he's sentenced Aug. 20, Edwards could face life behind bars, the office says.
